1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display lighting apparatus and a display lighting method and in particular, to a display lighting apparatus and a display lighting method for use with a portable telephone.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional portable telephone unit notifies the user of information using a combination of a display, a sound, and a mono-color (or two-color) light. Such a conventional portable telephone unit operates as follows: When the portable telephone unit receives an incoming call, the portable telephone unit blinks the display (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display), generates a ringing tone or activates a vibrator. When the battery of the portable telephone unit almost runs out, it lights the display, generates an alarm sound, and displays a xe2x80x9clow powerxe2x80x9d message on the display. When the portable telephone unit notifies the user of his or her incorrect operation, the unit generates an alarm sound and displays an xe2x80x9cincorrect operationxe2x80x9d message on the display.
However, such a related art technology has the following disadvantages. As a first disadvantage, since characters on the display and keys are small and illegible, the user cannot easily read them. This is because as a portable telephone unit becomes small, characters on the display and keys become small.
As a second disadvantage, the user tends to mistakenly operate the portable telephone unit. As with the same reason of the first disadvantage, since the user cannot easily read the characters on the display and keys, he or she tends to mistakenly press keys.
To allow the user to easily read characters on the LCD, a technology in which colors of the backlight of the LCD are added as display information along with characters and sounds has been disclosed in JPA 6-37715 (hereinafter referred to as first related art reference), JPA 5-37620 (hereinafter referred to as second related art reference), JPA 6-204910 (hereinafter referred to as third related art reference), JPA 9-191491 (hereinafter referred to as fourth related art reference), and JPA 10-145475 (hereinafter referred to as fifth related art reference).
According to the first related art reference, when the portable telephone unit is in the standby state, the unit causes the backlight to shut off. When the portable telephone unit transmits an originating call, the unit causes the backlight to blink in green. When the portable telephone unit is in the communicating state, the unit causes the backlight to light in green. When the portable telephone unit is performing an abnormal process, the unit causes the backlight to blink in red. According to the second related art reference, the portable telephone unit notifies the user of a setup time using the color of the backlight. The third related art reference has disclosed the same technology as the first related art reference. According to the fourth related art reference, the portable telephone unit notifies the user of whether the current communicating mode is a cellular mode or a PHS (Personal Handy phone System that is being serviced in Japan) using different colors of the backlight. According to the fifth related art reference, the portable telephone unit causes the color of the backlight to vary corresponding to the battery level and depending on whether the telephone number of an incoming call has been registered in the memory.
The technology in which the color of the backlight is varied depending on each state is known as explained above. Although recent portable telephone units have a schedule function, a calendar function, and so forth, they have not disclosed a technology in which the color of the backlight is varied corresponding to such functions.
An object of the present invention is to provide a display lighting apparatus and a display lighting method that allow the color of the backlight to be varied corresponding to a schedule function (of an action schedule table or the like), a calendar function, and so forth.
To solve the above-explained problem, a first aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing date information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the date information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for input date information, and when desired date information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the date information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information.
A second aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing key operation information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the key operation information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for input key operation information, and when desired key operation information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the key operation information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information.
A third aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing screen information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the screen information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for screen information displayed on said displaying means, and when desired screen information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the screen information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing predetermined reception information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the reception information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for reception information, and when desired reception information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the reception information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing date information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the date information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for input date information, and when desired date information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the date information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing key operation information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the key operation information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for input key operation information, and when desired key operation information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the key operation information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information.
A seventh aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing screen information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the screen information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for screen information displayed on the displaying means, and when desired screen information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the screen information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information.
An eighth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing predetermined reception information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the reception information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for reception information, and when desired reception information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the reception information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information.
According to the first to eighth aspects of the present invention, a controlling means causes a lighting means to light in a color corresponding to function information stored in a first storing means and to color information correlated with the function information and stored in a second storing means, a technology of which the color of the backlight is varied corresponding to the schedule function (of such as action schedule table), the calendar function, and so forth can be applied.